February 5, 2012

On the 4th October an impressive protest march of the deaf-blind took place in Berlin. Many of the participants took the opportunity to express and tweet their thoughts, demands, needs, wishes and requests with the @LormHand.

The Lorm Hand is an installation, which connects deaf-blind people with twitter or other social networks. Using touch sensory technology, the Lorm Hand enables deaf-blind people to compose text messages by applying the tactile hand-touch alphabet LORM, a common way of communication used by the deaf-blind. After typing a message on the Lorm Hand, it can immediately be tweeted or shared with social networks.

The Lorm Hand was created by the Design Research Lab initially for this event, so that the protest would go online and could be shared with a broader community. Furthermore the Lorm Hand has been used as a tool of communication for other non deaf-blind people, who are generally interested in the topic “deaf-blindness” and who can use it as a learning tool, to literally get in touch with the idea of LORM or deaf-blind culture in general.